


A Long Drive

by tsuristyle



Category: SMAP
Genre: Gen, old fic that is unexpectedly relevant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-08 02:13:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8826385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuristyle/pseuds/tsuristyle
Summary: SMAP go on a road trip. It goes about as well as you'd expect.
(Written August 2009.)





	

"Okay... okay, it should be right at the next light."  
  
"Right, got it."  
  
"Or is that a left? Lessee, we're coming from this way..."  
  
Kimura adjusted his sunglasses, trying not to dig his fingernails into the steering wheel. In the passenger seat next to him, Nakai wrestled with a map, muttering to himself. Behind them, Goro and Shingo stared out the windows, while Tsuyoshi, stuck in the middle, leaned on his elbows.  
  
"Wait, is that the right road? ...how do you read this character?"  
  
"For god's sake--" Kimura tore the map out of Nakai's hands and shoved it into Tsuyoshi's lap. "Do I turn here or not?"  
  
Tsuyoshi straightened the map out, tracing his finger along the roads. "No, you'll want to turn right at the one after this." Shingo looked over his shoulder with interest.  
  
"So how long will it take us to get there?" he asked.  
  
"Probably seven or eight hours," Tsuyoshi replied. "If there's no traffic."  
  
A silence settled over the car. Nakai and Goro both turned to look at Tsuyoshi in horror, and even Kimura glanced at him in the review mirror.  
  
"Don't look at me, I'm not the one who decided we should go on a trip all together in one car." Tsuyoshi folded the map into a more useable shape. "We have our wonderful company president to thank for that."  
  
"'A journey to deepen the bonds of friendship' and all that." Shingo stretched his arms, yawning. "I think they're trying to get us to retire."  
  
Nakai faced forward again, clutching the armrests. "...eight _hours_?"  
  
Shingo reached over the seat to pat him on the head. "Don't worry, you'll have us to keep you company. The entiiire way."  
  
Kimura turned right, resisting the urge to make a u-turn instead.  
  
~  
  
They were on the highway, finally moving at a decent speed. Kimura drummed his fingers on the wheel, accelerating slightly. They weren't going _nearly_ fast enough.  
  
"Quit poking me," Nakai said. He was reading a newspaper, or at least attempting to.  
  
In the back seat, Tsuyoshi had dozed off, his head tilted back with the map over his face, and so Shingo was searching for other ways to distract himself.  
  
Nakai twitched, rattling the newspaper. "Shingo," Kimura warned.  
  
"You're no fun." Shingo sighed and leaned against the window, pressing his cheek to the glass.   
  
It lasted for all of thirty seconds. Nakai jerked, and twisted around in the seat, momentarily regressing to an indignant fifteen-year-old. "I said quit it already!"  
  
Tsuyoshi pulled the map off of his face. "Shingo, stop bothering Nakai." He held out his hand. Shingo took it, and contented himself with staring out the window.  
  
It was quiet for a brief, blissful moment, until Goro leaned forward. "I think I forgot one of my hair gels. Can we go back for it?"  
  
~  
  
Tsuyoshi seemed to have gained a second wind, and had pulled out a magazine for the town they were headed to. He and Goro were poring over it, announcing bits of information to the rest of the car.   
  
"So the inn we'll be staying at has seven hot spring baths, three of them outdoors... oh, and there's one that's good for liver problems in the town itself."  
  
"There's a sand bath! I wonder if they do rock massage, too."  
  
"Rock massage?"  
  
"It's _really_ relaxing." Goro leaned back in his seat, enthusiasm apparent in his voice. "You go in naked and they place heated rocks all along your back, and massage your entire body. Sometimes they rub aromatherapy oils into your skin, too, and then it's a _really_ sensual experience."  
  
Kimura blinked rapidly at the sudden mental image, and hoped that no one had noticed the car swerving slightly. To his left, Nakai looked faintly queasy, and he heard a quiet gagging noise from Shingo's corner.  
  
"Huh," Tsuyoshi replied, unfazed. "I'll have to give that a try sometime."  
  
~  
  
"No."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Absolutely."  
  
"But you've been driving for five hours, you should let someone else--"  
  
" _No_." Kimura gripped the steering wheel possessively, glaring at Tsuyoshi in the review mirror. They were stuck behind a slow driver on a narrow road. "It's _my_ car. No one else is driving it."  
  
"Not even me?" Goro peeked over the seat hopefully.  
  
Shingo reached over and poked the side of his head. " _Especially_ not you."  
  
Tsuyoshi leaned forward. "But you shouldn't drive the entire eight hours, it's not good for you."  
  
Kimura stepped on the brake _again_. "I can manage it just fine."  
  
"I know you probably _can_ , that's not the point. Shingo's a good driver, he could--"   
  
"I don't care, shut _up_ already!" Kimura snapped. A passing lane opened up and he accelerated like hell to get around the son-of-a-bitch.  
  
Tsuyoshi sat back quietly and folded his arms across his chest. The car was silent.  
  
Nakai fidgeted for several minutes, and finally looked over at Kimura. "Hey."  
  
Kimura slowed down slightly, but didn't respond.  
  
"Kimura." Nakai's voice was low and serious. It was the voice of their leader, one they seldom heard but couldn't argue with.  
  
Kimura sucked on his lower lip. He glanced at Tsuyoshi in the review mirror a couple times, and finally reached his hand back between the seats. "Sorry."  
  
Tsuyoshi took it, and they clasped hands briefly in an awkward handshake.   
  
Shingo settled his arm over Tsuyoshi's shoulders. Goro laughed, a bit nervously. "Maybe they really _are_ trying to get us to retire."  
  
"No good," Nakai said, sliding down in his seat. He pulled his hat over his eyes. "I won't allow it."  
  
~  
  
In the end Kimura drove the entire way, and it took almost nine hours, including several rest stops and an incident where they almost left Goro behind in a gas station bathroom. The sun had set by the time they pulled into the parking lot.  
  
Kimura climbed out of the car, breathing in the cool night air. He could hear the sound of water in the distance. Nakai followed suit, stretching.  
  
"We made it without killing each other," he observed. "My back is definitely killing me, though."  
  
"Same here," Kimura admitted. "...Rock massage?"  
  
Nakai made a face, and poked his head back into the car. "Hey, we're-- oh."  
  
Kimura looked in. The three in the back were asleep. Shingo had his head on Tsuyoshi's shoulder, his hand resting on the inside of his bandmate's knee. Even Goro had ended up leaning on Tsuyoshi's arm.  
  
Nakai looked across at him. "No wonder the last hour was so quiet."  
  
Kimura nodded, leaning on the driver's seat. He felt an odd sense of calm, with his three younger bandmates huddled together in the back of his car like that. Like looking back and seeing his two little girls holding hands, fast asleep after a long drive.  
  
Next to him, Nakai reached out and gently brushed a lock of hair from Tsuyoshi's forehead.  
  
Kimura let himself smile. "I wouldn't allow it either, you know."   
  
Nakai smiled back, both of them safe under the cover of darkness. "I know."


End file.
